The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 01, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

Taxpayers throng special camp

Unlike in previous years, the Income Tax Department made excellent arrangements for taxpayers who visited its four-day special camp at Delhi's Pragati Maidan to file their returns.

The camp, which ended on Monday, saw thousands of taxpayers filing their returns each day with ease and in comfort.

Apart from deploying officials to answer queries from pensioners and salaried taxpayers and helping them in filling out forms, other facilities included special counters for applying for permanent account number (PAN) and arrangements to get photocopies of documents.

Similarly, taxpayers were allowed to use parking space inside the Pragati Maidan free of cost, while doctors and paramedics were deployed in case any visitor needed any urgent medical attention.

Moreover, the Income Tax Department had made arrangements to submit returns at select 96 post offices across the city. As a result, people did not have to travel long distances to file their returns.

But the biggest surprise for taxpayers was the hassle-free filing of returns.

"Last year when I had come to Pragati Maidan to file my return, I faced a lot of problem mainly due to poor management. I had to wait for a couple of hours in long queues to file my return. But this year it just took a few minutes because of the excellent arrangements," said a government employee, Om Prakash.

However, his only complaint was non-issuance of the refund order on the spot.

"I will have to wait for at least four months to get my refund, while on the last two occasions I had got it at the special camp itself," he said.

-- Sandeep Joshi

High beam driving

As the high beams of vehicles coming from the opposite direction fall into their eyes every night, lakhs of Delhiites on the city roads wonder what happened to the much-trumpeted drive of the traffic police against the menace.

It was with much fanfare that the cops had announced that they would not tolerate high beam driving on the roads as it endangered the life of all road users. But over a period of time, there appears to be a complete loss of interest in the issue that concerns all road users.

The effect of the high beams, especially on roads that have no divider or no railing or hedge thereon, is devastating. The beams almost leave the drivers in the dark for a while. And this is one plausible reason why a woman was fatally knocked down by a car while she was crossing the road near Sainik Farms the other day.

However, the loss of lives of pedestrians and the peril caused to all motorists by the menace does not bother the Delhi police, whose personnel seem more concerned about "challaning" commercial vehicles and stopping two-wheeler drivers most of the time.

What goes unnoticed is that Delhi's roads have become a playfield for uncouth drivers who do not care about other people's safety and security as they zip around in their vehicles breaking almost every rule under the sun.

With the police looking the other way, such elements feel all the more emboldened while the law-abiding motorists are left to fend for themselves at all times.

That such violations also take place in Lutyens' Delhi, where most of the roads do not have any dividers, also speaks volumes about how much concern there is among those who formulate laws and those who are supposed to uphold them.

-- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Flashes of camera

Motorists travelling from the Akshardham flyover towards Noida at night are often surprised by sudden flashes of bright light at the Mayur Vihar Phase-I intersection in East Delhi. These emanate from a camera that has been installed there to photograph the registration number plates of vehicles that jump the red light. But the camera does not only seem to be up to a few tricks these days, its usefulness at that particular point also seems questionable.

Sometimes motorists complain that the camera flashes even when the light is green. Further, the vehicles taking a left turn are also photographed when the light is red. Such motorists argue that when the left turn is free, the number plates of their vehicles should not be photographed as that may be subsequently used as a proof of "traffic violation".

Also, most of the vehicles on that road are Noida-bound. A large number of them are likely to be registered with the transport authority there and not in Delhi. In such cases, prosecuting the violators would become a tough task for the Delhi traffic police. The authorities would do well to review the effectiveness of installing a hi-tech gadget in to curb over-speeding and red light jumping at that particular point. It might, in fact, serve the purpose better if it was installed at one of the busier intersections of the Capital to curb traffic violations.

-- Prashant Pandey

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi